Toronto Blue Jays fan fave explains why he barely follows MLB offseason
From April to October each year, Ernie Clement earns his keep as a utility player for the Toronto Blue Jays.
But once he’s away from the team for the winter, he’s really away from the team — even if there’s franchise-changing news.
Clement isn’t currently active on social media and says that the team’s group chat isn’t particularly hyping up the various rumours floating around. While Toronto was linked to several star players this offseason, the biggest fish they’ve landed thus far was 2024 All-Star Anthony Santander, who they lured away from the Baltimore Orioles.
And despite the move being exciting to fans hungry for a big move, Clement admitted that he might’ve been the last person to find out about it.
“I found out about the Santander signing a few days after it happened just because I’m so removed from that realm,” he said in an interview with Sportsnet’s JD Bunkis today. “I might have to ask [teammate] Davis [Schneider] to start [keeping me updated], because I’m behind, I’m out of the loop here.”
Clement, who is entering his third season with the Blue Jays after stints in Oakland and Cleveland, said that his lack of awareness about the team’s moves is more about keeping his focus on offseason workouts, hangouts with his friends, and a focus on his Buffalo Bills playoff run as a native of nearby Rochester, New York.
“It’s been really nice to step away from that realm and just focus on real life instead,” Clement said. “The positives or the negatives, I don’t need to be seeing any of it… it’s just such a distraction. I try to step away and give my brain a break and just kind of enjoy the world around me. When I’m playing baseball, that’s all I want to do, and I don’t want to have to think about anything else.”
But despite not being in the loop, he said he’s fully supportive of the team’s offseason so far, despite missing out on big names such as Juan Soto and Roki Sasaki.
“We want as many good baseball players on our team as humanly possible that’s going to make us a better team. So when we sign good baseball players and good people, that’s only going to help,” Clement added. “I think it’s so exciting. They’re really going for it. I think [general manager] Ross [Atkins] has done a great job, battling and making some moves that are really going to help this team.”
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